Kuala Lumpur: A Malaysia Airlines flight which departed from Kuala Lumpur for Hyderabad in India late Saturday made an air turn-back due to an auto-pilot defect, the company said in a statement on Sunday.
It denied the claims circulating in social media that the MH198 plane was on fire, saying the defect had no impact on the aircraft or its passengers, according to Xinhua.
"However, as a precautionary measure, the operating captain decided to turn back," it added.
The aircraft landed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 2.01 a.m. Sunday. The passengers and crew disembarked safely and were accommodated at nearby hotels.
According to the statement, flight MH198 had been rescheduled to operate as MH198D to depart from Kuala Lumpur at 12 noon Sunday and is expected to arrive in Hyderabad at 1.35 p.m.
